Twitter is a micro-blogging program (See our page on
Blogger) that provides the user the opportunity to communicate real time
information via short (140 characters or less)
headline-type posts. Twitter is very similar to email in that messages come
to one's Twitter feed (These messages are called "Tweets"). Users
can choose to "follow" other Twitter users, and the Tweets of these other users collectively
contribute to one's personal Twitter feed.
Although Tweet messages are short and
succinct, they can contain links to other internet sites, relevant articles or pictures.
Tweet messages often contain hashtags (#hashtag). These tags allow
a user to "Tag" their message so that other users can search on that tag.
A user tweeting about Marketing 1 may use the hashtag #MR1100 in their
message. This hash tag will allow other users, who may not be followers of
the tweeter to easily search for all tweets on that topic.
For courses, not only can students follow each other and
the instructor, but they can also follow people and organizations in the
field of their study. hash tags also allow for searching on given
topics.
Twitter is a rising star in the Social Media world, especially among users
of mobile devices such as smart phones. It's a great and east to use messaging tool
designed for quick communication
with an individual or a group of people.
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It only takes about 5 minutes to join Twitter.
To start, go to the Twitter signup page by clicking this link:
https://twitter.com/signup
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Type in your name, username, password and email
address. Need help with a username? It can't have spaces, so many people
just use their real name without the spaces. For example, my Twitter
account is
paudtilley.
You could also use the first part of your email address before the @
symbol.
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Type in the CAPTCHA words from the image. If you have
a hard time reading them, you can listen to the words by clicking the
link just to the right of the image.
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Click on the Create My Account button
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The next step is to connect with others already on
Twitter. This will look through the address in your email if you use
Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or another popular Internet email service. You can
skip this by clicking on the Skip This Step link just
below the Continue button.
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You are done. The next page that asks how you are
doing is your main Twitter page. Type in something in the text box and
click update to send your first 'tweet' -- which is a Twitter message.
Tweeting
When a person posts an update to their Twitter
account, that update is then known as a "tweet" and the user is said
to have "tweeted". Tweet can be used as a noun, referring to the
actual written update, or a verb, referring to the action of
publishing an update.
Following
In
Twitter, if you follow someone or something, it
means that you will automatically receive that
person's/organization's Twitter updates. Each time that person posts
an update on Twitter, it appears on
your
Twitter home page instantly. Updates for all the people you sign up
to follow appear in reverse chronological order with the most recent
update on top of the page. Likewise, people can sign up to
follow you.
You can easily find people on Twitter by typing
in their username or their real name and searching for them in the
search box. Once you have located them in the list, simply click on
the follow button
@reply (Public)
@reply precedes messages sent from one person to
another that are public. Public tweets can bee seen by anyone.
These messages appear on Twitter updates as @username (eg:
@pauldtilley).
Direct Messages (Private)
A direct message is a private message from one
Twitter user to another. You can only view your direct messages in
your direct message Inbox after you log into your Twitter account.
You can only send a direct message to Twitter users that you are
already following.
A hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a
Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize
messages. to add a hashtag simply place a # before the tagword (no
spaces)
Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you
all other Tweets in that category. Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet
– at the beginning, middle, or end. Hashtagged words that become very
popular are often Trending Topics
To add a link to you tweet simply copy the web address to
the link and paste it in your tweet.
